L. Trisees Megapost Part 1 - Remember Them

  Stowed away in a
small room leading off from the Blue Dwarf’s cargo bay, a young boy
watched over a cranky man who’d just lost two thirds of his body. 
Why the boy cared so much about the irritable and selfish man was beyond most
of the crew; but care he did and tend to him he did also.  He had been
watching the life support machine and refilling medicines for as much as was
needed.  The man had been close to death after the operation that had
involved removing the paralysed lower half and replacing it with cybernetic
legs.  The advanced equipment used had also been applied to the
man’s missing left arm and earless head.  He’d become nearly a
whole machine in the space of one 20 hour operation.
  Since the operation
over a month ago, the man had yet to wake up.  He’d been comatose the
entire time; not even a slurred murmur.  Despite the unfavourable
prognosis from the ship’s Chief Medical Officer, the young boy held out
hope for the eventual awakening of the man. 
  Unbeknownst to the
child, the man had been lost in his own mind; his memory thinking over a small
event that had occurred to him a long while ago.  Until he’d
resolved the memory he was stuck in his subconscious.
 
  Trisees stared at Major
Francine Harris both shocked and also not surprised.  It was an odd
sensation, much like hovering over Phobos’ gaping canyon
‘Airtime’ (named in 2087 by the honourable Guy T. Duuuuuude, a rich
surfer) but he’d been getting used to it during the course of the
day. 
  The feeling of dread,
on the other hand, seemed to be increasing with every minute and while he was
eager to find the two fellow crew members of his that he hated, he was also
trying to deal with the feeling of wanting to help them.  It wasn’t
easy being Lawrence Trisees.
  Trisees broke his
gaze and looked at Captain Shakespeare, who stood beside him a little puzzled.
  “What did
thou’st ask?” he said.
  Trisees
frowned.  He didn’t remember asking anything.  All he last
remembered involved the feeling of seeing Francine Harris.  He lifted a
hand to his head and rubbed it slightly.
  There was a bright
yellow flash, like a light bulb suddenly appearing in the very depths of his
corneas and he let out a scream of agony.  Slamming his eyelids tightly
shut the pain vanished and reflexively he opened his eyes again.
 
  When the remnants of
the flash died down Trisees nearly gasped with concern.  He no longer
stood in the hydroponics bay.  Instead he was on his back in a white clean
bed, large bedsheets draped over his prone body and a young boy next to the
door wrestling with a creature that seemed to resemble Captain Shakespeare.
  He tried to move but
his legs and arm felt strange, almost as if they weren’t there.
  The yellow flash
appeared once more and the pain returned, nearly splitting his nerves in
two.  Trisees tried to grab his head but his arms were restrained, tied
close to his body.  His vision blind he waited for the view to clear and
return to him.
  When it finally did
both the hydroponics bay, and the strange room had gone, and Trisees knew what
had happened.  He was tied to a pillar with some thick ropes around each
wrist.  In front of him, also tied to a pillar hung his two crew members
while to his left stood the man responsible for their current situation. 
The man Trisees had been searching for.
  Harold Coffey.
  Behind Harold
Coffey, at a hunched desk and operating a small keyboard, sat Loretta Trisees,
the ship’s sixteen year old counsellor.  She chewed thoughtfully on
her blonde hair as Harold Coffey directed her attention to various images of
planets on a big view screen,
   As Trisees
looked around the room he understood where he was.  It was the drive room:
the perfect place to hide the whole operation and one of the best double bluffs
ever.  Go for the most obvious of all and it’ll be hidden under your
nose forever.  Why he’d not thought of it sooner was beyond him and
as he didn’t see Captain Shakespeare or Francine Harris he could only
assume that he’d been ambushed and dragged here somehow.
  It would explain the
strange blackout, the vision, and the dull throbbing he felt in the centre of
his forehead,
  “Ah, awakened
have we?” asked Harold Coffey, his voice sinister and low. 
  Trisees thought
about deception for a moment, and hanging there with his eyes open to feign
incompetence, but decided against it.
  “Yes, very
refreshing sleep.  I don’t suppose you happen to have any
aspirin?” he queried.
  Coffey gave a wry
smile and turned his back on Trisees for a moment to instruct Loretta Trisees
to set a course for dimension 4487 and not to place her gum on the sensor
monitor.
  “You’re
probably wondering what I’ll do first?” he offered.
  Trisees shook his
head. 
  “Not really. 
It’ll involve one of the three of us dying, followed by the other two, in
whatever way you do to increase your diseased life.  Text book stuff
really,” stated Trisees.
  Coffey nearly
allowed himself to emit a small rumbling growl but managed to keep his
composure.  He wasn’t about to let a two bit scientist with the
brains of mush trick and goad him.  He was far too clever for that. 
He’d murdered a billion counterparts and life-forms.  He was beyond
a god.  Coffey strutted along the centre of the drive room and laughed to
himself,
  “This plan is
the kind of infallible that every villain dreams about creating!” He
stated. 
  Trisees nodded in
reply.  Coffey seemed to be about to start a monologue which was a godsend
for him.  If Coffey kept talking, it could give him enough time to figure
out a plan of action.  He had a feeling that Coffey underestimated his
abilities.  If he could find some way of using that to his advantage. . .
  Coffey spun on his
heels and stroked his chin.  “You know, finding you was quite lucky,
Lawrence. 
If I hadn’t found you then I don’t think I’d have been able
to start up phase three of my plan.”
  “What’s
phase three?” asked Trisees, immediately wishing afterwards that the
words had never left his mouth.
  “Why you
should realise that.  Phase three is dimension sucking on a mass
level.  Instead of taking one or two people at a time to fuel my
immortality, I could take millions of people, and drain galaxies dry.”
  “You’re
insane,” said Trisees.  “Truly insane.”
  “Of course I
am,” replied Coffey matter of factly.  “That’s why
I’m going to succeed.”
 
  <To Be Continued…>